Antipode
by LightInsideDarkness
Summary: In a world where a genetic mutation has caused a new strain of humanity, one man makes a living by hunting his own kind. He soon finds himself caught up in a battle that will change the world. Will he fight for his own kind, or for humans?
1. Chapter 1

Antipode

Chapter 1

"Full bar tonight, huh?" A man in a black cloak leaned over the counter towards the bartender. "Suppose you're making quite a bit of cash tonight."

The bartender, an a mostly bald man in his mid-fifties didn't turn towards his speaker. "I told you once. I don't talk about my customers. Especially not to scum like you."

"Now that's not fair.." The cloaked figure pulled out five twenties and laid them out on the counter. "I'm just trying to make a living. We all are. This just appears to be the job best suited towards my...abilities."

The bartender turned towards the cloaked figure and raised an eyebrow. "John, you know I don't sell out that easily."

The cloaked man sighed and pulled out another five twenties. "There. And you know I hate that name."

The bartender looked at the money for a second longer, and then took it, pocketing it quickly. "Fine. Who is it you're looking for?" He paused for a second as he looked around the bar. "If it's a regular, I want another hundred."

The cloaked man shifted around a little, and pulled his hood down, revealing himself to be a young tanned white man, his dark blue eyes shining with a certain amount of smugness, also shown in his smile as his long brown hair, kept in a ponytail, was still mostly concealed by the hood of the cloak.

"Here.." John pulled out a small picture from his cloak, laying it on the table. "I'm looking for this guy. Calls himself Inferno. Apparently he's a wanted arson."

The bartender picked up the picture. It appeared to be a white man, maybe 6'2 in height with short spiked blood red hair. He was wearing a grin that no sane man wore.

He grimaced at the thought of what the man could do inside his bar, recognizing him. "I...see. He's been hanging out here with a crowd lately." He pointed towards a table in the back of the room, surrounded by a large crowd, mostly women. "He thinks himself to be a real ladies man apparently. Started up a few fights with some jealous men." He then turned towards John, frowning. "I suppose if you're after him he's another one of those..."

John held a hand up, grinning. "Watch yourself there. You're talking to one of them right now you know." John turned to face the bartender, his blue eyes now gleaming with mischievousness. "Tell you what, since we go back some, I'll try to limit damage to your bar, and I'll even pay for what I can afford."

"What you can aff-" The bartenders eyes widened. "Oh god, I'm never going to see this bar again after tonight, am I?"

"No promises old man." John smiled and patted the stunned man on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle. Well, as gentle as I can be."

The bartender shook his head. "Yeah, never seeing this bar again."

"Probably not." John agreed, grinning.

- - - - - - - -

Inferno was sitting at a table, surrounded by a dozen women and the few men who could stand him, a group that was becoming increasingly small lately. If he knew how soon that was about to change, he'd be pissed.

He was currently entertaining the table with stories of his latest crime, bragging about how he destroyed a local court.

"Wait wait.." Inferno grinned madly as he remembered the details. "After I burnt down the court, I noticed the Judge fleeing, I suppose he was working late, so I gave chase and.."

Inferno found himself interrupted as a man with brown hair suddenly tore through his crowd, and slammed a hand down on his table, laughing.

"Hey there!" The brown hair man greeted Inferno with a cheerful grin. "I've been looking for you! Inferno right?"

Inferno brought a slight growl to his voice as he glared at the stranger. "So you do know whose party you're crashing." Inferno rose to eye level with the stranger, examining him. "I'll give you some credit, either you're an idiot, or you're brave."

"Can't it be both?" The stranger asked with another laugh.

Inferno chose to ignore the comment, and reached over to grab the man, pulling him over the table some in the process. "Say what you want and leave, unless you want your family to be finding charred pieces of your body in the morning."

"What I want?" The stranger looked past Inferno, his face seemingly lost in thought. "...Oh right! I'm here to collect a bounty on you. If you would quietly come with me, that would be great!"

Inferno stared at the man. Clearly he was more insane than he himself was. After a moment of silence, he broke out laughing, releasing the stranger, and fell back into his seat, covering his face with his hands.

"He says he's here to collect a bounty on me!" Inferno laughed harder as he fell over in his seat, banging the table with a hand. "That's _priceless_!"

The stranger frowned as he placed his hands on his hips, indignantly. "I'm being serious you know. You better come with."

Inferno sat back up, his laughing slowly starting to die down, and he let out a long sigh as he finished. When he did, he smiled at the stranger cockily. "Heh..since you made me laugh, I'll give you one warning. Run home bounty hunter. You don't want to deal with this."

"Duly noted." The stranger smiled rather calmly. "I suppose this means I'll be doing this the hard way now?"

Inferno's smile disappeared as he stood up again, all traces of humor now lost as he frowned angrily. "Kid, you don't know who I am, do you?"

The stranger nodded. "Of course I do. You would be Inferno. The infamous arsonist with a rather violent streak across these areas. You've brought this town down to it's knee's before you with no effort. No one in these parts would dare test your power. Right?"

Inferno's frown grew larger. "..You doubt my power then?"

"Doubt?" The stranger laughed. "I've seen plenty of idiots like you think they're untouchable because they have a little bit of power." The stranger leaned over the table, grinning viciously. "Most of them were even better than you I would bet."

Inferno twitched. "...A little bit of power huh?" He grabbed the table, and pushed it aside. An impressive feat considering it was bolted to the ground. "Idiot even?" Inferno took a step forward towards the poor unfortunate soul who just incurred his wrath. "Let me tell you something. _No one _is stronger than me. I am the strongest of my kind alive. _I am not going to sit around and let some fool claim that someone alive is more powerful than __**MEEEEEEEEE!**_" With that last word, a sudden burst of fire surrounded Inferno's body, as the bar was suddenly evacuated with a speed most would find impressive.

The stranger merely grinned. "Flame on?"

_Thats it._ Inferno gathered most of his fire into his left hand as he drew it back. _I'm going to burn him so bad that even his bones will be unrecognizable._

- - - - - - - -

John jumped to the side as a fireball went flying past his head. _Hoo boy. That last one really pissed him off._ _ I have __**got **__to remember that one for future flame users._ Another fireball nearly hit him in the head as he jumped aside again. _Assuming I don't let this one give me the worst sun burn of my life of course._

"FUCK YOU!" Inferno screamed. "I'M GOING TO TURN YOU INTO THE NEXT BURNING MAN!"

"Burning Man isn't for another five months." John pointed out helpfully.

"GO TO HELL!" Inferno retorted, flinging another fireball at John.

John smiled sweetly as he ducked the fireball. "You know, it might help if you take your time in aiming instead of flinging them around wildly."

"FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, _FUCK YOUUUUUUU!_" Inferno suddenly threw both hands above his head, a fireball noticeably larger than the previous ones gathering in them as he started to laugh. "NOW, BURN TO ASH!"

_Oh...well that's not good. _John frowned. _Sorry old man, I think I might have lied on my promise. If I try to pay for this, I'll go broke._

As if hearing his thoughts, suddenly the bartender jumped up from behind the counter, and grabbed the nearest fire hydrant, spraying it everywhere. "God _damnit _John! I thought you said you wouldn't let this happen!"

"Actually, if I remember right, I said I'd be gentle." John threw his hands out in front of him. "I never promised the other guy would be."

"_TAKE CARE OF HIM BEFORE HE BURNS MY GODDAMN BAR DOWN!_"

John merely nodded. He closed his eyes, as if concentrating on something. After a few seconds, he opened them again and grinned. "Materialize."

As if reacting to his command, something started to grow out of his hands. His flesh grew distorted as it twisted, and even changed from meat to metal. As it finished, a rather large gun, resembling a rocket launcher sat in his hands. He lifted it up onto his shoulders, taking aim as Inferno was finishing up gathering his fire.

"_BURN BABY!_" Inferno shouted as he drew his hands back, readying to throw his fireball.

"Really, burn baby? That's why I don't like dealing with you fire types." John squeezed the trigger, releasing a net from the gun on his shoulder. It flew out at such a speed t hat when it hit the target, it knocked him back a few feet as it wrapped around him. "Such generic catchphrases."

Inferno howled out in rage as he lost his fireball, the net surprising him so much that it it dispersed harmlessly. He struggled on the ground, trying to break out of the net wrapped tightly around his body. "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! F-"

John walked over to Inferno and kicked him in the head. "Quiet you. I've had a fairly bad evening. Having fireballs flung at me and all. To top it off I have this annoying migraine now because of all your screaming."

Inferno started to laugh suddenly as his body was enveloped in flames, burning at the net he was in. "JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET OUT OF THIS FUCKING NET! YOU'RE DEAD!"

John sighed, then flipped a switch on top of the gun. An unmistakable crack sounded from the net. Suddenly Inferno started to scream out in agony as the flames retreated back into his body, he jumped around in the net, his convulsing body trying to break out of it for a good minute before John finally flipped the switch again. Inferno passed out, the only sound in the bar now being the bartender taking care of the few fires left from the stray fireballs.

"...Jesus Christ John. What the _hell_ did you do to him?" The bartender looked over at the smoking man with a raised eyebrow. "The way he was screaming you'd think he was in the chair."

"Not a bad analogy." John muttered. "Electric net."

"Shit.." The bartender finished tending to the last fire and sighed as he sat back. "Well, I still have a bar left. Despite some fire damage, the place is holding together relatively well." He shook his head. "John, no more taking care of bounties in my bar. I don't think she can take much more of it."

John laughed, and then grabbed the unconscious man, tossing him over his shoulder. "I'll keep that in mind old man." He turned away, and then raised a hand over his free shoulder, waving to the bartender. "Catch you around. Lets do this again later."

A/N

Well then, here comes a new idea I wanted to work on. And just three chapters into my other fic and I'm already on another story. I'm such a whore.

Well, as you can probably tell, unlike my other story, this ones an original story. And also unlike my other story, I have this series somewhat planned out. So hopefully, the story won't ever feel kind of forced, unlike Chapters 2 and 3 in my other story.

But don't get me wrong, I'll still be working on Addiction, although it'll probably be getting a lot less attention than this story. I enjoy the possibilities I have with this story, and I would like to explore them all.

As always, let me know what you think, and tell me how you think I can improve.

P.S. Not all chapters will be this short, I'm going to start trying to do around 10,000 words a chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Antipode

Chapter 2

John fell back into his bed, letting out a relaxed sigh. Despite the fireballs and migraines, it was a decent night. Inferno had a rather sizable bounty on himself, Ten thousand was nothing to sneeze at. Of course in his line of work, that would last him around maybe a few weeks.

Dropping Inferno off for his reward brought a smile to his face. Hell, just thinking about it now still brought the smile to his face. The other man woke up on his shoulder right before they reached the drop off point. After a few threats, and offers, Inferno suddenly grew desperately quiet, pleading with him.

John turned over in his bed, covering his face with a pillow as he pulled his blanket over him. _It still is strange though.._ John frowned into his pillow. _Inferno had a lot of confidence earlier. I wonder what it is that could make him that nervous.._

John sighed as he rolled over in his bed again, staring up at the ceiling. "Hell, it was probably just the thought of being turned in.." John muttered to himself, although he sounded rather unconvinced to himself.

_I'll have to look into it tomorrow.. _John shook his head, then closed his eyes, letting himself drift off to sleep.

- - - - - - - -

Inferno laid strapped to a table, screaming in agony as he pulled against the straps. He was unable to form coherent sentences at the moment, the pain in his body making sure of that.

"Is he..properly subdued?" A man with black brushed back hair and glassed, motioned over towards Inferno. "I'm not getting near him at the risk of third degree burns."

"Of course he is professor." A girl with long brown hair nodded with a smile. "A rather uninteresting subject though, don't you think?"

The professor nodded, his face grim. "You know how rare these subjects are. I can't even turn down an uninteresting subject these days." He drew himself to his full height, and a pin of a frozen tree shining proudly on his white lab coat. "But I'll deal with it. I suppose even trash like this can yield results."

The girl nodded, then bowed down. "I see professor. I'll leave you to your works." With that she turned away and left the room.

Inferno finally stopped screaming as the pain in his body slowly washed away, and he fell back against the table, sweating heavily and panting.

The professor leaned down over Inferno, smiling. "What do you think of our little antidote? Of course it's not a permanent deal, and it doesn't fully lock out powers but.." The professors smile widened as he pushed his glasses back up with his two middle fingers, the light catching them in the process. "The effect is excruciatingly painful for the subject, and I'm afraid while it doesn't lock out the powers, it does keep the subject from using them. It's a useful tool for...research."

"Fu..fuck you..." Inferno felt like he was going to pass out again. He knew the man wasn't bluffing either, he couldn't access his flames.

"My, not only are you still awake, you're also able to speak? You might not be as bad a subject as I thought." The professor grinned as he grabbed a scalpel from his table, and pressed it against Inferno's stomach. "Funny isn't it? No matter how different we are, we all bleed the same color."

Inferno let out a new scream of pain as the scalpel cut into him, and he struggled against the straps again. He looked down his chest and saw his stomach being cut open, and his blood pooling down his body. The professor was grinning like a madman, cutting his body open quickly, as if he knew what he was looking for.

- - - - - - - -

John woke up the next morning feeling somewhat worse for the wear. Even in his dreams he was haunted by Inferno's worries. He decided to settle the matter as quickly as he could so he could shove it aside and forget about it.

It wasn't very often that John felt an urgent need to take care of anything, so when he did he usually put it at the top of his priorities. The red haired man's unnatural concerns had earned itself his full attention. He didn't know necessarily where to start his search, so he decided to begin with the poster of the bounty.

- - - - - - - -

Clancy Williams is a normal man. He lived a normal life, with little complications. He wasn't married, and nothing about him stuck out very much. He lived mostly in obscurity, and decided he was happy that way.

What he wasn't happy with was having a bounty hunter kick his door in, then shove a gun bigger than his face into his chest and start screaming at him. As a matter of fact, that downright terrified him.

"WHY DID YOU POST THE BOUNTY ON INFERNO?!" John screamed at Clancy, pressing his gun closer against the mans chest.

Clancy answered him by breaking down into a terrified sob and shitting his pants.

"WHY THE _FUCK _DID YOU POST THE BOUNTY ON I-did you crap yourself?" John asked, as he sniffed the air.

Clancy, still sobbing, slowly nodded his head. "J-just a little..." Clancy practically sobbed the response out.

John sighed and the gun suddenly disappeared into his hand. _Man, I need to work on my interrogation tactics. _John thought. "Well...um...sorry about that." John rubbed the back of his head nervously. "It's..well...just been a rough couple of weeks. The situation with Inferno has made me kind of irritable."

"Made _YOU _irritable?!" Clancy, still sobbing, glared at John, each of his words coming out as a wail in between his sobs now. "You just kicked down my door and shoved a gun into my chest while screaming at me! _HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?!_"

"Um.." John produced a lollipop from his cloak, and grinned. "Tell you what. Answer my questions, and I'll give you a lollipop! Will that help?"

Clancy sobbed a few seconds longer, then wiped his eyes, nodding.

"Okay then.." John sat down, looking at the man. "Why did you post the bounty on Inferno?"

Clancy looked down as he wiped his eyes again, feeling them beginning to tear up. "H-he destroyed my o-office and put me out of work...then he s-stole my car...I took what m-money I had and placed the b-bounty on him with it.."

John nodded understandingly. Made sense after all. "When placing the bounty, were you asked any...unusual questions?"

Clancy looked up at John surprised, almost in awe. "Y-yeah! They specifically asked me if he was another one of those...you know..."

John frowned. "Mutation freaks?" He spat the words out with some level of disgust. It was amazing how some people tried to make them feel like monsters because of what they were born with. Then again it wasn't hard with idiots like Inferno who abused their powers.

Clancy nodded, looking away. "..Is that a-all..?"

John smiled and tossed Clancy the lollipop. "Afraid so. Thanks. Oh and...sorry about the door. Try to have a good day."

As John left, Clancy feverishly unwrapped the lollipop, and jammed it into his mouth, sucking the sugar off of it. If anything was going to make him feel better about the situation, it was going to be a sugar high.

- - - - - - - -

John sighed as he left the house. _Well so much for that lead. All I know now is that the guild is paying up more for us now._ He shook his head and started to walk towards the guild. _Might as well pay them a visit, ask whats done with the ones they have delivered to them._

- - - - - - - -

Inferno laid on the table, his face a mixture of pain, terror, and relief. The professors 'operation' if it can be called that, was finished for now.

"There, there, Inferno..that wasn't so bad, was it?" The professor grinned madly as he ran his fingers across the tender wound on his stomach.

Inferno flinched, letting out a gasp of pain, but didn't say anything. Partly because he was hurting too much to say anything, but mostly because he was afraid to. He had talked with an escapee of the facility before, and watched them come back to fetch him. Ever since then, he had a deep fear of the place. More now so than ever.

The professor turned away and walked out the door. Seconds later two fairly muscular men filed in to retrieve the new prisoner, his body caked in his own blood. Inferno's thoughts turned towards the bounty hunter who placed him here.

_If I ever get out of this hellhole.._ Inferno scowled angrily, _I'm coming for you, you son of a bitch._

- - - - - - - -

John frowned at the receptionist. "IN-FER-NO. You know, the _bounty _I brought in last night. _You _handed me the cash yourself!"

The receptionist cocked her head and smiled sweetly. "I'm sorry sir, we have no records of a man by that name being brought in. Are you sure he didn't have a different name..?"

John cupped his face in his hands and groaned. "Yes, I'm sure he didn't have a different bloody name." John pulled out a rolled up piece of paper from the pocket of his cloak, and unfurled it, showing it to her. "_See?! Inferno! Clear as fucking day!_"

The receptionist stopped smiling for the first time since John approached her. "Sir, if you persist in using that kind of language with me, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

John opened his mouth to introduce the woman to a series of phrases he learned from the less happy bounties he collected. Instead all that came out was a very angry hiss of air as he restrained himself.

"Very well sir. Are you _sure _you collected the bounty on him last night?" The receptionist smiled again.

John slowly nodded, keeping his mouth shut in fear that if he opened it, he would lose it.

The receptionist nodded back, her smile showing no signs of slipping. "At what time would you say you did this?"

"10:36." John snapped, leaving the _You stupid twat _part of that phrase unsaid.

The receptionist looked at her computer, and punched the time in. After a moment of watching her smile slipped again. "Well...we do have you on video bringing him in. But I'm certain that wasn't me last night."

John had a mixed reaction. One part of him wanted to grab her by the shirt, drag her over the counter, and start screaming "WHAT DID I FUCKING TELL YOU?!". The other part of him wanted to cock his head and ask what she meant.

He went with the part of him that was less likely to have him tackled by security. "..What are you talking about?"

She shook her head and looked at him, genuinely puzzled. "Sir, I was on break at that time. No one should have been at the receptionists desk at that time."

John stared at her. Stared long and hard. He decided to carefully choose his next words. After he ran a few of them through his head, he opened his mouth. "WHAT. THE. _FUCK?!_" _Well shit. That's not what I meant to say. _John thought to himself angrily.

"We shall give our utmost attention to this situation sir. Please stick around so we may question you." With that the receptionist stood up and left to go fetch someone.

John sighed as he covered his face again. _How do you let someone slip in to do your job?! HOW IS SHE STILL HIRED?! _He let out a quiet groan of anguish. He was never fond of the woman, her almost always cheery attitude somehow got on his nerves.

It was a few quiet minutes as John cursed the secretary before the president of the Bounty Hunters Association showed up. He regarded John with a respectful nod as he sized him. John had heard rumors about the man, but he never expected this.

The man looked like he was in his late fifties at the very least, but the scars on his body were evident, his hair was almost as long as John's, but a mixture between black and gray stripes, and his chestnut brown eyes seemed to stare straight into his soul.

After a serious effort to not shudder, John returned the nod. The president then extended his hand and John took it. A quick handshake later, both men were sitting down across from each other.

"..The secretary tells me you came in with quite the bounty last night." The older man started. "Inferno I believe. Problem is, she says she wasn't there to collect the prisoner, but someone was."

John nodded, his mouth dry. "That just about sums it up from what I understand. He was quite the cocky one." He looked at the other man with such a fierce respect that he surprised himself. "That's the problem though. He was far too cocky for the amount of pleading he did after I caught him.."

"I'm to understand your familiar with this business, right John?" The older man smiled calmly at him.

John returned the smile nervously. "You'll be hard pressed to find a better hunter than me."

The older man let out a chuckle. "Then you know that many of the criminals become desperate when captured."

"That's what was odd though." John shook his head. "He was like that at first, then suddenly he got quiet. He started to _beg _me to let him go. He said that what I was doing would kill him."

The president kept his eyes on John, his face now carefully neutral. "And you're saying that you think something is going on here?"

John smiled knowingly. "I think that would help explain our mysterious bounty collector."

"That it would." The president smiled again and nodded. "A talented bounty hunter and a smart one also. Very well, we'll look into the situation with Inferno."

"Thank you.." John paused.

"Thomas Clancy. Please though, call me Tom." Tom extended his hand again.

John didn't take it. He did however flinch. "...Clancy, huh? So...a family member posted the bounty on him?"

Tom retracted his hand. "I hope you aren't trying to say I have something to do with this John."

John shook his head. "No, of course not. It's just...well...I wouldn't ask him how his day went."

Tom stared at him for a second then nodded. "I'll....keep that in mind. In the meantime, I believe I have a bounty I would like you to take care of."

John stared back at Tom now. "...Me? What is it?"

Tom pulled out a packet and handed it to John. "His name is Jimmy Hoffman. He calls himself Gaia. Care to guess why?"

John opened up the packet and looked at it. "...I suppose it wouldn't have to do with his ability to manipulate the earth would it?"

Tom chuckled. "Bingo. From our information, it looks like his ability can affect the earth around him for up to ten feet before it starts to weaken. Keep that in mind for this hunt."

John noticed that it was already assumed he was going to take the job. He was of course, you don't say no to a job from the head of the association, but he preferred that it at least _seemed _like he had a choice in the matter.

"Very well then." John closed the packet and smiled. "Alive I presume?"

"Of course." Tom stood up, and nodded at the younger bounty hunter. "He might have information that's useful. This job comes straight from the government."

John grinned. "Oh, good. Should be a challenge then."

Tom smiled and extended his hand towards John. After they shook hands, Tom wished John a safe hunt and took off. John sat back and stared up at the ceiling.

_The government huh..?_ John shook his head. _That's quite the job. That should pay well._


End file.
